Saturday, May 9, 2015

Here we go!

MEMORIES OF TULIP TIME

This is the first in a series of figurative mixed media paintings I'm attempting. It was a BLAST! to paint. I've always avoided painting people because I've never taken a life class and hesitate to expose my lack of training to the world. HOWEVER…..when you reach A CERTAIN AGE, it's time to let those fears go and charge ahead, full steam…so here goes!

Because I always have (and always will) love painting florals, I'm going to incorporate my floral images with the figures. Flowers have always spoken to me of God's extravagance in creation and they're rife with metaphor and meaning for me. They're involved with so many of the memories of my childhood. My mother was a gardener and I have wonderful memories of playing with my little sister in the sandbox while Mom was on her knees weeding away and feeling that all was right with the world. I even remember being completely knocked out by the brilliant blue beauty of the cornflowers in our back yard. Don't even ask me about my Grandpa's red tulips or my Auntie's red Blaze roses or her zinnias that made me sneeze. I could go on all day.

I used mixed media for this painting, beginning with watercolor. I then collaged rice paper on top of that before layering with pastels, spray inks (over various stencils), watercolor crayons and acrylic.